Turkey Pushes to Restart Russia-Ukraine Peace Talks Ahead of NATO Summit – EU and China Launch 3-Month Trade Talks to Defuse €360bn Gap
Turkey is working to restart peace talks between Russia and Ukraine ahead of next month’s NATO summit in Ankara, while the European Union and China have agreed to three months of formal negotiations to avoid a trade war over a €360bn annual deficit.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told German opposition leader Friedrich Merz on Tuesday that Ankara is pushing to revive stalled negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv [185028]. The diplomatic effort comes just weeks before Turkey hosts the NATO summit, signaling its continued role as a mediator in the conflict [185028]. Separately, the EU’s foreign policy chief and several European commissioners will visit Turkey next week for talks on EU-Turkey relations, shared geopolitical challenges, and new areas for cooperation, seen as a key step in resetting ties between Brussels and Ankara [184496].
Meanwhile, the European Union and China have opened formal trade consultations in Brussels – their first joint statement in seven years – to address the EU’s €360bn annual trade deficit, where the bloc imports far more goods than it exports [185169]. The three-month talks aim to make the trade relationship “more balanced” and follow weeks of threats from China, which warned it would retaliate if the EU imposed measures to slow Chinese goods entering the bloc [185169]. Both sides agreed the talks are a key step to avoid escalating tensions that could disrupt global supply chains [185169].